Upgrades
by ejwalker
Summary: Edolas Gray and Natsu work together to make Natsu's car function without magic, and the car's not the only thing that changes for the better. Oneshot.


"We need some change around here," Gray sighed. "You know what I mean, Natsu?"

Natsu shook his head, then paused. "You want Juvia to like you?"

"You remember what the Earthlanders said? Their Juvia is all over Gray Fullbuster, and he basically ignores her. What's he got that makes her so fascinated? And why doesn't he see what a great opportunity he's passing up?"

"Who knows," shrugged Natsu. "Maybe he thinks she's too clingy. That's what our Juvia says about you, anyway. As for what he's got, can you really tell me you've forgotten what Juvia said about you taking a page out of his book?"

Gray blushed and clutched tightly at his coat. "There's no way I'm turning into a stripper like him! I gotta draw the line somewhere."

"But you could try only wearing as many clothes as a normal person," Natsu pointed out. He leaned closer to Gray and whispered, "Juvia saw the other Gray. If you don't look as round as a snowball, maybe she'll realize that you're as fit as he is even if you don't show it off."

"I get cold," said Gray stubbornly, though he turned even redder.

Natsu could feel the heat radiating off his friend. He snickered. "Juvia could keep you a lot warmer than any old coat."

"Sh-shut up!" gasped Gray. His face warmed up so much that he actually loosened his scarf a bit.

"NATSU!"

"Uh-oh..." The smirk fell off Natsu's face faster than Earthland Gray could lose his clothes. "Lucy's back!"

"Come on, follow me," Gray ordered, already forgiving Natsu. What were friends for, after all? The two boys were always teasing each other one minute and sticking up for each other the next. Well, as much as Natsu was capable of sticking up for someone...

"Lucy's been on my case all week," Natsu whimpered as they made their escape out the back door. "What do I do?"

"Well, she is right," Gray pointed out. "Magic's not coming back to Edolas. You've got to get used to it. There must be some way you can get back to being Natsu the Fireball, even without your car."

Natsu looked behind him nervously. "I don't think her lecturing me is going to do the trick," he mumbled. "I miss my car so bad..."

"Where'd you put it anyway?"

Natsu looked proud of himself. "It took a while, but I got it to a garage. There's all sorts of magic car stuff lying around the place, but since magic is gone..." His head dropped. "It's practically abandoned. The only time I see anyone around there is when they have an idea to use car parts for something else."

"Wait," said Gray, stopping to stare hard at Natsu. "If you know that, you must hang out there an awful lot..."

Natsu wouldn't look at Gray. "Well, people have been pretty inventive now that they can't depend on magic like they used to. If they're having ideas for reusing magic equipment, maybe I could think of a way to make my car run without magic."

"That would be great if you could pull it off," Gray admitted. "Want some help?"

Natsu accepted eagerly, and the two of them scampered off to the garage.

* * *

"So if we burn stuff..." Natsu muttered while digging through a heap of discarded items. "Heat makes things expand..."

"But we don't wanna blow something else up!" Gray called from under the car.

"That was because we forgot to leave an exhaust port," Natsu insisted. It had been an excellent learning experience, but his face was still smudged with soot.

"Fine, we'll try again." There was a pause, then muffled swearing.

"What's wrong?" asked Natsu. He paused his rummaging to look over in Gray's direction.

"Just snagged my coat again."

"You should take it off for now," Natsu advised. "There's not really enough room under there for all your layers."

He didn't really expect Gray to listen to him, so it came as a bit of a surprise when Gray actually scooted out from under the car and removed a couple of his coats.

Natsu watched in stunned silence as Gray put the clothing off to the side where it wouldn't get in the way, and then disappeared back under the car.

"Y-you just... You..."

"It's a little warm under here," grumbled Gray, as if he felt he needed an excuse. "I'm working up a sweat with all this effort, and your combustion experiments aren't exactly lowering the temperature in here."

"Yeah... well... I guess I should get back to work..." Still wearing a slightly befuddled expression, Natsu turned away and sniffed at a container of something black and greasy. "Hmm... smells strong... might burn good... "

"Bonus points for you if you manage to make this thing work _without_ destroying our sense of smell," Gray interjected.

* * *

"Juvia, have you seen Natsu lately?"

"No. Maybe he's out at the old magic car garage, tinkering with his baby again."

"His baby?"

"He and Gray have been trying to make that old roadster run without magic. I don't think they'll succeed, but it's kept Gray out of my hair for several weeks, so I haven't bothered them."

"Can you show me where that garage is?"

"Certainly, Lucy."

When the two girls arrived, they had to navigate what was nearly a maze of junk. Before they made it inside the building, they could hear voices.

"No, put the thing over there, not this way!"

"What thing, Gray? They have proper names, you know."

"Natsu, I can barely remember what they do, much less all those technical terms."

"Then maybe you'd better do this yourself."

"I'm doing something to the muffler."

"I thought you said you didn't know the terms?"

"Well, the muffler's an easy one 'cause it's named after what it does."

"And what it does isn't as important as some of the other stuff. Here, take the wrench and go make the 'thing' do what it's supposed to. If we get this set up right, I can test the engine."

"Did you get all the gaskets to... um... whatever you said earlier?"

"Yep, this is the last major thing."

"Okay, I'm coming."

Juvia and Lucy exchanged a glance and then nodded at each other, deciding to approach silently and see if they could startle the boys. But once their victims came into view, the girls had to stop for a moment and gape.

Natsu and Gray both were leaning over the engine of Natsu's car, arms deep in the machinery. They were equally dirty and disheveled, but that wasn't really surprising. What shocked Juvia and Lucy into immobility was the fact that Gray was only wearing one shirt and a thin, unzipped jacket. With the sleeves rolled up.

After a moment, the girls watched as he wiped his hands on his pants and grinned at Natsu. "There, that should do it. Shall we see if she works?"

"Yeah, man!" Natsu raced to the driver's door and leaned in. In seconds the engine roared to life. "We did it, Gray!"

The boys started jumping up and down, pounding each other on the back and yelling ecstatically over the unmuffled noise of their working vehicle. They froze when they noticed the girls were present, and Gray nervously rolled his sleeves down again.

But then Natsu gave a huge grin, almost as big as Earthland Natsu's, and waved at the girls. "Come on over! We did it! We made my car work again!"

Gray smiled shyly at Juvia as she and Lucy joined them.

"So it runs," snorted Lucy. She had no trouble making herself heard over the cacophony. "But does it actually go anywhere?"

"Of course it does!" Natsu answered loudly. "Everyone in!" He nearly flew to the driver's seat.

Gray opened one of the back doors. He considered offering to help Juvia get in, but she probably would rather help herself, so he held back and simply climbed in first, leaving the door open for her. His restraint did not go unnoticed by Juvia, who gave him a small smile as she got in after him and shut the door.

Lucy gingerly tugged open the passenger door and leaned in. "You're sure this thing isn't going to explode and kill us all?"

Natsu laughed. "Trust me!" He reached out and pulled her into the seat next to him.

Lucy frowned, but she slammed her door and grunted, "Fine, but if we die then I'll never speak to you again."

"Got it," replied Natsu, and shoved the slightly dusty gearshift into drive. "Here we go!"

The engine rumbled even louder and the car sprang forward, flinging the garage doors open on its way through.

"Hang on tight, everybody!"


End file.
